New Home, Empty Closet

I finally bought my first house! One of the bedrooms has (what I think is) a perfect sized closet. It is 6' wide by 3.5' deep and about 8' tall. My initial idea is to split the closet into two 3' x 3' rooms with a 400w MH on one side and a 400w HPS on the other. There is already a shelf at about 6' that I can use to mount the lights on, and I can keep the ballasts/fans/ducting/etc on top. Id like to have 4 plants on each side. If the plants are under 5ft, I should be able to fit four 3-gallon pots into each 3' x 3' section, right?

I have been planning my grow in my head for a long time, but it is finally becoming a reality (and you know how that goes).. I am thinking about these lights from HTG with either the euro or cool tube reflectors. Is the cool tube worth the extra $11 (x2)? I want to use an inline duct fan to get rid of the heat from the lights. Does anyone have experience with these fans? Are they insanely loud? Would I be better off spending the extra $100 on one of these and using it to cool both lights?

I obviously want to start simple, so I think I am just going to use some Fox Farm ocean forest soil. What would be a good simple mix of nutes to begin with? Ive seen some A+B nutrient packs for both veg and flower. Should I just pick something like that up?

I am thinking about a $500 startup budget for a basic minimal setup. I would like to have one side going with a HPS light and 2-4 plants. Realistically I am planning on around $1000 total for both sides. What am I missing? Thanks in advance!

Sounds to me like that spot and that plan is champ. Check out EHGS, sickest prices i've seen. You can equip both sides almost dead on your budget with 2 cool tubes 2 lumatek digital 400 ballasts, 2 climate cntrl, an eclipse 6" centrifical fan, 2 bulbs with a few hundy left for some of the rest of your goods(duct, sm fans, soil..etc) The trouble i'm having with my 6" fan is way too much cfm for 1 tube.(630cfm). I'll prob down grade to 4"(210cfm) and use adapters for c tube. The in-lines are way quieter than the sqirrel cage blowers(stupid loud) but still moving alot of air makes noise. Get a muffler or sound dead the rm if becomes an issue(I use panels of 1-1/2 thick pink foam board covered with the Blk/Wht plastic sheet inside whole room) The number of plants is up to you but 1 or 2 larger would prob be more simple to deal with and maybe yield more than cramming more into the sq ft. Kinda just depends on how big they get/long you veg them. Keep us posted

you can also buy inline duct fans at home depot i think they got a 100 cfm and a 250 cfm for like 20 for lower cfm and like 35 for 250cfm cheap as fuck and im makin my own cool tube way cheaper than buyin one check this website out
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

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Originally Posted by bigsmoke07

you can also buy inline duct fans at home depot i think they got a 100 cfm and a 250 cfm for like 20 for lower cfm and like 35 for 250cfm cheap as fuck and im makin my own cool tube way cheaper than buyin one check this website out
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

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You want to make sure to check the maximum heat the fan can run under. I bought a 4" fan from there and it's rated for 120 degrees. I'm not sure if that would be a problem in the long run.

A space that size...I'd use that room strictly for flower, and take a couple of square feet in another closet for a CFL veg. (You only need half as much floor space for veg, if even that)
This would be cheaper in the long run, as you don't have to light-proof the closet from itself, nor exhaust two seperate sources of heat from that same closet. (and CFL's are cheaper to run than the HID's)
Also, you wouldn't regret the extra space for proper ventilation, elbow-room for the ladies, room to move shit around for optimal airflow/light usage...

I use a 400w MH (batwing reflector...no cool tube) for vegging in my 4' x 2' x 7' tall closet. Stays at around 80 degrees f. (12" oscillating fan for vent/air circulation) Perfect size for cloning, starting seeds, re-vegging...I'd try the cheap fans for vent, first...then upgrade if the need arises.

I've used a few different brands of nutes, and always come back to Fox Farms 3-part system. (Tiger Bloom, Big Bloom, Grow Big) Already has the micronutes in it, too. Also, they have a downloadable nute schedule that is fantastic for beginners.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigsmoke07

you can also buy inline duct fans at home depot i think they got a 100 cfm and a 250 cfm for like 20 for lower cfm and like 35 for 250cfm cheap as fuck and im makin my own cool tube way cheaper than buyin one check this website out
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

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My expierience with the bake around is they are perfect for smaller bulbs and sockets because the I.D of the tube is only 3.5 in. and a ceramic socket is 2 1/8 in O.D.= 11/16 air space to push through. Just too much restriction to worry constantly about what would happen if that fan quit. The in-line style fan at H Depot is a solid state style that is not designed for continuous use and it has very chincy plastic blades that are unbalanced. This poses a few problems, the imbalance causes alot of noise and pre-mature failure and the motor/blade style does not flow a sufficient cfm once restricted by even the smallest obstruction. Even if you decide to make the diy tube then a centrif fan is highly advisable. At least it is designed like an air "pump" or "turbo charger" that is very quiet, lost cfm's are at a minimum, and piece of mind with reliability(5yr warranty on eclipse)$140 fire prevention. In addition, by the time you purchase all the parts needed to complete it diy you actually have more in it than buying one from Elite($60) After a new model/design change was made by cool tube, my hydro shop sold me the last model for $50. There are deals to be had on new shit if you look around. BTW I have $140 in the fan, $120 in a lumatek digital 400, $18 in HPS bulb and $40 in an elf carbon filter. $320 for the basic hardware sure made me happy.